It’s part of human natural ability to understand music, at least to some degree. People with absolutely no musical training can often tell when they’re hearing mistakes as their young child works on their weekly piano lesson. Humans have this musical ability through DNA, bolstered by whatever experiences they might have as a casual listener […]
There’s more to a song hook than meets the ear… a lot more. “Hooks and Riffs: How They Grab Attention, Make Songs Memorable, and Build Your Fan Base” is a vital manual for any serious songwriter. The issue of complexity and simplicity in songwriting is an important one. Songs that are too simple are usually […]
Lyrics become all the more powerful when they’re properly paired with a good melody. That’s what Chapter 5 is all about in the eBook “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting.” Polish your songwriting technique with the 10-eBook Bundle. Computers have been a part of the world of music and songwriting for a good forty years now. […]
For most of the songs you’ll write, you’ll likely use the same key throughout. If you do happen to change key, the mostly common scenario is to put the verse in a minor key and then switch to the relative major for the chorus, like Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” That’s pretty standard, and […]
I’ve always been interested in the tempo of music, and what effect that has on how we “hear” a song. We can measure tempo precisely, usually in bpm (beats per minute), but performers will often slightly alter tempo from one live performance to the next, which might indicate that the need for tempo precision is […]
If you think about melodies that are considered “beautiful”, you’re usually talking about ones that move generously up and down rather than ones that sit mainly around one or two notes. If you were to make a short list of songs that have what everyone seems to think of as beautiful, there’s another aspect you’ll […]
